This page is a compendium of items of interest - news stories, scurrilous rumors, links, academic papers, damnable prevarications, rants and amusing anecdotes - about LAUSD and/or public education that didn't - or haven't yet - made it into the "real" 4LAKids blog and weekly e-newsletter at http://www.4LAKids.blogspot.com . 4LAKidsNews will be updated at arbitrary random intervals.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

iPads: LAUSD PRESS RELEASE RE: PROGRAM RESET & MEDIA REACTION

L.A. schools chief wants to extend iPad rollout by a year

4:56 PM PDT, October 15, 2013 :: The rollout for a $1-billion school iPad program could be extended by a year, doubling the time originally allotted for getting tablets to every student in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The decision is a substantial concession to critics who questioned whether the district has been moving too fast in plans to distribute about 650,000 devices to teachers and students.

Problems quickly emerged during this fall's start-up efforts at 47 schools. At three high schools, more than 300 students deleted security filters and browsed unauthorized websites. As a result, all students turned in tablets at these campuses; others schools must use the devices only on school grounds. There also has been confusion over such issues as whether parents are liable for the iPads if they are lost or broken.

Supt. John Deasy has defended the pace and scope of the program as a civil rights imperative: to give the low-income students of his school system the same digital advantages as more prosperous families.

But he faced eroding support on the Board of Education and, on Tuesday, adopted a different tone.

“I am hopeful that this revised plan meets the concerns of board members over how best to provide our students with the technology they need to excel in the classroom and succeed in their careers,” Deasy said in a statement.

Deasy and Deputy Supt. Jaime Aquino told The Times they've decided that a slower pace would lead to a more effective result -- logistically and academically.

Under the prior plan, the tablets would have been distributed by December 2014. The new plan pushes that deadline back to the fall of 2015.

Even the revised schedule could prove ambitious in the nation's second-largest school system. But Deasy made it clear he has every hope of going forward, pending school board approval, which he hopes to secure in December.

LAUSD looking to delay iPad distribution

Posted: 10/16/13, 12:16 AM PDT | Updated: 6AM :: Facing questions about security and other issues, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy has proposed a one-year extension in equipping all 600,000 of the district’s students with iPads, pushing completion of the program to December 2015.

Deasy has asked the school board to consider the revised timeline during a special meeting it has scheduled for Oct. 29 to address growing concerns about the iPad rollout. Among the issues expected to be discussed during that session are a security breach that allowed more than 300 students to access unauthorized websites, whether the devices can be taken home and whether the district will have to buy keyboards for the tablets.

The board was expected to award the contract for the second phase of the project in November and scheduled the special meeting so members could get their questions answered before signing off on the plan.

Under the revised timeline, the contract will now be considered in December.

“I am hopeful that this revised plan meets the concerns of board members over how best to provide our students with the technology they need to excel in the classroom and succeed in their careers,” Deasy said in a statement.

Under the original plan, about 300,000 students would have received tablets from January to next July, with the balance getting the iPads during the second half of 2014.

The revised timeline would limit the second phase to just 36 campuses, which would get iPads by April. Priority would be given to schools identified by the federal Office for Civil Rights and L.A. Unified as having limited access to technology.

Several of those under-served schools were also included in the first phase of the program.

Phase 3 would involve the distribution of tablets to 200 schools in fall 2014, and to an additional 250 campuses in the spring of 2015.

The remaining schools would receive tablets in the fall of 2015.

He asked that the board act expeditiously on this request because of the introduction of computer-based state assessments in the spring of 2015.

Deasy Slows iPad Rollout

Posted on October 15, 2013 :: Superintendent John Deasy is proposing a nearly half year-long extension in completing LA Unified’s much-ballyhooed iPad rollout, pushing back completion of the program to the end of 2015.

As originally planned, all LA Unified students were to have iPads by the spring of 2015* over three phases of distribution. If his proposal is approved by the board, iPads will rollout to the district’s 600,000 students through December 2015.

The proposed change is included in a revised distribution plan Deasy has sent to the board for consideration at a special meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 29, according to a press release from the district. The request reflects problems the district has encountered in the initial phase of distribution, which is scheduled to bring the tables to students in 47 schools through this fall.

But that rollout, representing a $30 million investment, has been marked by a series of problems, such as iPads going home with students, lost iPads and students’ bypassing security blocks to freely surf the web.

Deasy is asking that Phase 2 include distribution of tablets at up to 36 campuses by April 2014, with priority assigned to those identified by the federal Office for Civil Rights and LA Unified as having limited access to technology. This phase also provides tablets and an initial orientation to principals and certificated staff at all LAUSD schools.

Phase 3, which is scheduled from August 2014 to December 2015, will involve the distribution of tablets to 200 schools in the fall of 2014, and to an additional 250 campuses — ostensibly Phase 4 — in the spring of 2015.

The remaining schools will receive tablets in the fall of 2015.

“I am hopeful that this revised plan meets the concerns of board members over how best to provide our students with the technology they need to excel in the classroom and succeed in their careers,” Deasy said in the release.

He asked that the board act expeditiously on this request because of the introduction of computer-based state assessments in the spring of 2015. He said he hopes that the Board is prepared to vote on the plan at its regularly-scheduled meeting in December.